Procrastination: Get It Done!

02 Apr Procrastination: Get It Done!

By Gail

Procrastination occurs when you postpone various task, duties and/or other responsibilities and utilize your time on more desirable and/or comfortable activities, or accomplish nothing at all. Procrastination can result in adding negative influences to your life! Procrastination can cause stress, anxiety, a sense of guilt and crisis, health issues and loss of personal and/or professional productivity. Procrastination can also cause a negative social impact for not meeting responsibilities and/or commitments. (These feelings combined can cause additional procrastination in our lives). Procrastination is the killer of dreams! Don’t get me wrong, it is normal for people to procrastinate to a degree, but it becomes a serious problem when it disrupts normal functioning and becomes a chronic problem, which can be a sign of an underlying psychological disorder. Some chronic procrastinator experience difficulties seeking help. This is due to the negative social stigma and beliefs that people who procrastinate are lazy, have no will power and/or ambition.

Experts Interpretations

Ned Hallowell, a Psychiatrist and author of Driven to Distraction, suggest that some people delaying work is often a symptom of how busy you are. He also stated that “we procrastinate because we all have too much to do and we want to dodge things we don’t like.” Theresa Amabile, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and co-author of The Progress Principle states that “many people procrastinate because they fear the drudgery of the difficulty of the task they are avoiding. She also states that “it doesn’t pay to dawdle and putting it off doesn’t make it go away-getting it done does.”

Here Are Some Strategies In Eliminating Procrastination

Tip 1: Identify What’s Holding You Back Determine why you are delaying and/or ignoring a task Is the task something you don’t want to do or don’t know how to do? As you discover why you procrastinate, you can begin to break the cycle and begin to create a positive habit towards accomplishing goals and objectives both in your personal and professional life. Tip 2: Set Deadlines for Yourself  If the task is too large, break the task down into manageable segments and determine timelines on each segment.  Tip 3: Award Yourself When Accomplishing A Task To make a task feel more like a priority, focus on short-term rewards, such as treating yourself to a bowl of ice cream after you’ve cleaned out your closet, or treat yourself to a spa day after you’ve completed a full week of Spring cleaning the entire house.  Tip 4: Ask Someone For Help  If you don’t know how to do something, ask someone for help. Seeking help from others is a good way to obtain extrinsic motivation. Tip 5: Take Control  Get into the habit of getting things done! Train yourself to stop procrastinating! Tip 6: Work On One Task At A Time  Working on one task at a time will help keep you focus, time bound and closer to completing your desired task. Tip 7: Identify The Consequences Of Not Accomplishing A Task  Determine if the consequences are worth the negative impact associated with not accomplishing your goals. Tip 8: Do Not Overestimate The Unpleasantness Of A Given Task  You may experience that completing an undesired task in not as bad as you first thought!  Tip 9: Block Out Distractions  Avoid checking your Face Book page, Twitter and Instagram. Stay focus on your desired goal and completing your task!

Once you start completing various task, notice how it feels to get things done and accomplishing your desired goals!!! Get to work…. Get it done!!!